Outdoor Hour Challenge: Getting Started

The first Outdoor Hour Challenge assignment was to spend 10-15 minutes outside observing and to choose two things to investigate further. Should have been pretty easy, right? Of course, I was in major decluttering mode and we spent most of the day going through all kinds of stuff in the basement. However, I was determined to make it outside, even if only for a few minutes! We didn't spend too much time out there, but the girls got several pictures. I think everyone was kind of crabby and worn out from the decluttering session; I probably should have done the nature study first. In fact, I had to bribe some nameless children with a promise of hot chocolate to even coerce entice them to go out in the cold!

Anyway, the girls were more interested than the boys. They want to learn more about evergreens and types of bird nests. Here are some of their pics (you can click on the thumbnails for larger ones):

HomeschoolBlogger Comments
(use scrollbar on right to read)

Feb. 29, 2008 - What a beautiful blog!

Posted by HarmonyArtMom

Thank you for sharing your link for the Green Hour challenge. I think as the air warms up and the kids get the hang of it, maybe the boys will be more excited about nature study. :)

I love, love, love the bird nest photos...very interesting.

I am glad you persevered and bribing with hot cocoa is totally okay with me!!! If fact, we had our Green Hour time this morning and we hit Starbucks for cocoa on the way back.

Thanks again,
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Mar. 2, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Anonymous

What a wonderful outing you guys had! You found some really nice bird nests.

I got the kids an ice cream cone after our GHC #2. Nothing like having a special treat after doing something that is so much fun!

~Tina
Jetihoja Academy
http://jetihoja.blogspot.com/

Mar. 3, 2008 - This looks...

Posted by mom2two

...like a fun assignment. Being outside is always a good thing, unless it is cold and windy! :o)

Yvonne :o)

Menu Plan Monday - Feb 25

I managed to follow last week's menu plan, so I decided to try doing Menu Plan Monday again. Allyson and Kathryn helped me plan this menu, so it is a little more detailed this week. I put a lot of notes on here, but that is really just for me. Since I'm posting my menus, I am printing them out for myself. I hope nobody minds the notes!

If you want to see other people's menus for this week or post your own, go to orgjunkie.com.

Monday

Breakfast: Blender Batter Pancakes, fruit, milk
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Creamed Tuna & Peas, brown rice, salad

Notes: Cook and freeze the black beans that I soaked last night; Allyson should soak oats and prepare dry ingredients for Tuesday's breakfast

Tuesday

Breakfast: Oatmeal Muffins (Allyson makes these), fruit
Lunch: PB & J on homemade bread, milk
Dinner: Grilled Salmon (Rob does the grilling), steamed carrots, salad

Notes: Soak pinto beans overnight; teach Kathryn how to prepare Five Grain Hot Cereal mix; make buttermilk; make yogurt

Wednesday

Breakfast: Five Grain Hot Cereal, milk
Lunch: Ramen Soup (Nathan makes this), celery sticks with peanut butter
Dinner: Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes (make extra for Friday), mixed vegetables

Notes: Bake bread in the afternoon; cook and freeze pre-soaked pinto beans; Nathan and I will make granola

Thursday

Breakfast: Yogurt with Homemade Granola and fruit
Lunch: Tuna Melts, carrot sticks
Dinner: Chili, Blender Batter Cornbread, salad

Friday

Breakfast: Eggs (Jordan makes these), cold cereal or oatmeal
Lunch: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, apple slices
Dinner: Shepherd's Pie (from Wednesday's leftover mashed potatoes & ground beef), salad

Saturday

Breakfast: Applesauce Muffins (Allyson & Kathryn baked a bunch of these on Saturday and froze them)
Lunch: PB & J, milk
Dinner: Leftovers

Sunday

Breakfast: Porridge (this is what my kids call oatmeal when I soak the oats overnight), milk
Lunch: Leftovers or sandwiches
Dinner: Black Bean Soup

Outdoor Hour Challenge

Barb at Handbook of Nature Study is hosting a Outdoor Hour Challenge. This looks like an easy and gentle way to incorporate nature study into your homeschool if it is something you're interested in and it ends up on the back burner (that would be me). I am very sporadic with nature study, so this looks wonderful!

Barb says, "Many of you have read the book Pocketful of Pinecones and you are dreaming about having nature study like she describes this story. You can have that sort of experience if you take it easy and leave yourself open to the little opportunities that come in your everyday life. Please remember that this book is a fictionalized story about what nature study can look like. Your experiences can be just as enriching and look totally different."

You can start the assignments whenever you want. It looks like you can start from the beginning and go at your own pace or join in on the current assignment. Assignment #2 was posted on 2/22/08. Click the Outdoor Hour image for details and the first assignment. Barb is also making the assignments available in PDF format.

I first read about this at Moving the Mountain. You can read about mamasmurf's first Outdoor Hour here.

My nature study day will probably be on Thursdays, so I will try to post our Outdoor Hour adventures on Thursdays or Fridays.

Lunar Eclipse Pics

The kids and I managed to get some pics of the eclipse Wednesday, despite the fact that the camera master didn't get home until almost 11:00 PM. He did make it in time to get some shots - good thing because I'm not very good with a tripod in the dark with cold hands! Some of mine came out okay, but I didn't have the camera tightened down properly, and I was too impatient to take everything back in the house to figure it out. So, onto the pics! Click on the thumbnails for larger sizes.

Jordan took some pictures early on in the eclipse. He posted them on his blog.

Wow! I just downloaded Nathan's photos, and they are phenomenal! He used Rob's big camera, which I'm afraid of. Here are a few of Nathan's pics (I used the large size since they are so good - if you click on the photo in Flickr, you will get a clearer image). Nathan didn't stay out very long because he was cold, so he just got some early eclipse pics:

Allyson took these early in the eclipse:

These are a couple of mine:

Kathryn took some, but she deleted all but one!

And last, but definitely not least, here are some of Rob's:

Rob got a nice progression at the end of the eclipse. All of these pictures are in the order they were taken. You can view the whole set here.

~Andrea

HomeschoolBlogger Comments
(use scrollbar on right to read)

Feb. 22, 2008 - Fantastic pictures...

Posted by proverbsmomof3

We tried to get pictures but they all just looked like a bright light. Great job.

Feb. 22, 2008 - Thank-you so much...

Posted by proverbsmomof3

for your help. I'm going to try and mess with the coding and see what happens. I appreciate your help.
Blessings,
Ginny

Feb. 22, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by blessedwith2angels

Those are great pictures of the eclipse. I love your blog design! You have such a pretty blog.
Pam

Feb. 23, 2008 - Moon Pics

Posted by barrynmissy1972

Hey- your moon pics are good! I was in church and didn't get to see the entire eclipse, but what I saw was facinating! Thank you for the compliment you left on my blog.
My camera is an Olympus SP-550 UZ.

Feb. 23, 2008 - Hello

Posted by Anonymous

Very pretty blog. Very cool pics of the eclipse. I haven't see the ones my husband tried to get that night yet, but I hope he got something as good as those. :')

Nice to meet you at the Lounge. Thanks for stopping by.

Lunar Eclipse Tonight

I totally forgot about this! There is going to be a lunar eclipse tonight. There is a detailed time chart at NASA.

I'm sorry I posted this so late! Here are some links of interest even if you miss the event:

Space.com Lunar Eclipse Viewing Guide

Lunar Eclipses for Beginners

Observe a Lunar Eclipse (animation)

Lunar Eclipse (another animation)

This starts in an hour here in Michigan - I'd better get the camera ready!

~Andrea

HomeschoolBlogger Comments
(use scrollbar on right to read)

Feb. 20, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Sawickis

Tonight is perfect for this. It is pretty clear out and did you check out that thing? It is Huge!

Enjoy your viewing.

*Kristie*

Feb. 20, 2008 - dude

Posted by MasterWindu

how did you figure that out because i was out there getting pictures.
ha ha ha

>>>masterwindu<<<

Feb. 21, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Jocelyndixon

Oh I never know when these types of things happen! lol DId you get to watch it?

Jocelyn

Menu Plan Monday - Feb 18

I've been so inspired lately reading others' Menu Plan Monday posts that I decided to try it myself. I may not always link recipes or post all meals, but I'll try to at least keep up with posting my dinner plans.

If you want to see other people's menus for this week or post your own, go to orgjunkie.com.

Monday

Breakfast: Blender Batter Pancakes
Lunch: Leftover Spaghetti
Dinner: Black Bean Soup, salad

Notes: Allyson should soak oats and prepare dry ingredients for Tuesday's breakfast

Tuesday

Breakfast: Oatmeal Muffins (Allyson makes these)
Lunch: Homemade Pizza, carrot sticks
Dinner: Grilled Chicken Legs (Rob does the grilling), cooked greens, corn

Notes: Bake bread in the afternoon and prepare a big batch of Five Grain Hot Cereal mix

Wednesday

Breakfast: Five Grain Hot Cereal
Lunch: Ramen Soup (Nathan makes this), celery sticks with peanut butter
Dinner: Homemade Mac & Cheese, salad

Notes: Nathan and I will make granola

Thursday

Breakfast: Yogurt with Homemade Granola and fruit
Lunch: PB & J on homemade bread
Dinner: Tilapia (Jordan fries this), Savory Onion Rice

Friday

Breakfast: Eggs (Jordan makes these) or cold cereal or oatmeal (some of us don't like eggs)
Lunch: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, carrot sticks
Dinner: Pulled Pork Sandwiches (my father-in-law is bringing this for a b-day dinner), salad

Saturday

Breakfast: Smoothies
Lunch: Tea & Sandwiches (Mom/Daughter time)
Dinner: Leftovers

Notes: I'll chop up everything for tomorrow's lentil soup dinner

Sunday

Breakfast: Porridge (this is what my kids call oatmeal when I soak the oats overnight)
Lunch: Leftovers or sandwiches
Dinner: Lentil and Vegetable Soup with Dumplings, salad

Black History Month Resources

I know it's halfway through the month already, but I wanted to share a few great resources for studying African American history.

• Black History Month at FactMonster
• Black History Month at Education World

Awesome Stories: "Enjoy an interactive learning experience as you see thousands of hand-selected and relevant links to pictures, artifacts, manuscripts, documents and other primary sources, IN CONTEXT, within each story." This is a huge site with tons and tons of information! If you haven't seen it, it is well worth looking at. You have to sign up for a free membership to access everything on the site. I signed up for the academic membership without any problems. Here are some of the Awesome Stories links related to Black History Month:

• Amazing Grace: The Story Behind the Movie
• Slave Voices
• Black History Month (A-I) and Black History Month (J-Z) (some of these will link to chapters in the above topic - they are "focused topic" lists)
• Slavery and the Slave Trade (A-F) and Slavery and the Slave Trade (G-Z) (focused topic lists)
• Civil Rights (a focused topic list)
• American Civil War (A-I) and American Civil War (J-Z) (focused topic lists)

For Older Students:

• PBS: Africans in America: This is a very informative PBS website. I was amazed at the amount of information here! There is also a PBS video series by this name that I was able to obtain from my local library.
• PBS: African American World: Your guide to African American history and culture
• The Underground Railroad (interactive National Geographic site)
• The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African: If you saw the movie "Amazing Grace," this is the autobiography of Olaudah Equiano, one of the people featured in the movie.

For Younger Students:

• Educational Bookmarks for Black History Month
• Culture and Change: Black History in America (Scholastic site)

About Africa:

• PBS: Wonders of the African World
• PBS: Africa for Kids
• PBS: Kids Africa
• Xpeditions Printable Map of Africa (You knew I would have to get at least one map in here! You can customize this one for printing.)

You can tell that I'm really impressed with what PBS has to offer for African American history. If you are interested, you can find a lot of wonderful information by doing a Google search. I haven't completely gone through all of these sites, so please use discretion and do some previewing!

Although this post highlights free resources for Black History Month, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Belinda, one of the bloggers here at HSB, has written a Christ-centered literature-based curriculum that focuses on African American history. Her products and samples are available at A Blessed Heritage. We are currently studying the Age of Exploration, Renaissance and Reformation using Tapestry of Grace, and I have been adding in and/or substituting some of Belinda's literature recommendations. I think her curriculum is going to be a valuable addition to our history studies.

Enjoy!

HomeschoolBlogger Comments
(use scrollbar on right to read)

Feb. 15, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Canadagirl

Wow , thank you for sharing all this !! I will have to come back and really take the time to go through all this. What a blessings.

Praying Blessings and ((hugs)) in Him<><
-Mary

The Homeschool Lounge

Tiany has outdone herself with a wonderful Valentine's Day gift to homeschool moms: The Homeschool Lounge. Here's the description from Tiany's blog:

The Homeschool Lounge is a FREE online social network community for Homeschool Moms; the very first of its kind! The vision of The Homeschool Lounge is to connect Homeschool Moms from all corners of the web; get advice, give advice, share, learn and laugh with those who truly understand you. There is something for everyone inside the many pages of this pioneer website so go check it out!

Site Features Include:

• Create your own space
• Start or join discussions in our Forum
• Start or join a group
• Start a Blog or Promote an existing Blog
• Create a slide show widget of your pictures for your blog
• Photo Gallery
• Video Gallery
• Live Chat
• Invite other Homeschool Moms, friends and family
• Members only community ~ All members, all videos and pictures must be approved and only the front page of our site can be viewed by the public for the safety and comfort of our homeschool moms.

We invite you to join us, share tips and advice, and find encouragement, fellowship, and friendship in a safe, fun, friendly environment. Our goal is to provide you with a resourceful and encouraging platform for all of your interests and needs, in order to help create and facilitate the most enriching network for Homeschool Moms on the Internet today.

All homeschool parents can sign up to join the Lounge from the front page and from there they will be approved for full membership to view all pages of The Homeschool Lounge. As for invites, you can send anyone you want an invite by clicking on the tab that says "Invite" and also the people that join The Homeschool Lounge from your invite link will automatically be included in your list of "Friends" aka Lounge Sisters.

Please feel free to help us spread the word and share the news on your blog by writing a post or using one of the buttons at the end of this post. We are very excited about this community and we hope it will be everything we have hoped, envisioned planned and prayed it would be!

You know I always have to throw in some fun!!! Everyone that shares the news about The Homeschool Lounge on their blogs or websites will be entered into a drawing for a giving away of two $25 Amazon gift cards to randomly picked winners! All you have to do is post about post about The Homeschool Lounge on your blog and leave me a comment letting me know you did so!

Thanks, Tiany! You are a huge encouragement and blessing to the online homeschool community!

~Andrea

The Homeschool Lounge & Contest

Tiany has outdone herself with a wonderful Valentine's Day gift to homeschool moms: The Homeschool Lounge. Here's the description from Tiany's blog:

The Homeschool Lounge is a FREE online social network community for Homeschool Moms; the very first of its kind! The vision of The Homeschool Lounge is to connect Homeschool Moms from all corners of the web; get advice, give advice, share, learn and laugh with those who truly understand you. There is something for everyone inside the many pages of this pioneer website so go check it out!

Site Features Include:

• Create your own space
  
• Start or join discussions in our Forum
  
• Start or join a group
  
• Start a Blog or Promote an existing Blog
  
• Create a slide show widget of your pictures for your blog
  
• Photo Gallery
  
• Video Gallery
  
• Live Chat
  
• Invite other Homeschool Moms, friends and family
  
• Members only community ~ All members, all videos and pictures must
  be approved and only the front page of our site can be viewed by the public
  for the safety and comfort of our homeschool moms.
  

We invite you to join us, share tips and advice, and find encouragement, fellowship, and friendship in a safe, fun, friendly environment. Our goal is to provide you with a resourceful and encouraging platform for all of your interests and needs, in order to help create and facilitate the most enriching network for Homeschool Moms on the Internet today.

All homeschool parents can sign up to join the Lounge from the front page and from there they will be approved for full membership to view all pages of The Homeschool Lounge. As for invites, you can send anyone you want an invite by clicking on the tab that says "Invite" and also the people that join The homeschool Lounge from your invite link will automatically be included in your list of "Friends" aka Lounge Sisters.

Please feel free to help us spread the word and share the news on your blog by writing a post or using one of the buttons at the end of this post. We are very  excited about this community and we hope it will be everything we have hoped, envisioned planned and prayed it would be!

You know I always have to throw in some fun!!! Everyone that shares the news about The Homeschool Lounge on their blogs or websites will be entered into a drawing for a giving away of two $25 Amazon gift cards to randomly picked winners! All you have to do is post about post about The Homeschool Lounge on your blog and leave me a comment letting me know you did so!

Thanks, Tiany! You are a huge encouragement and blessing to the online homeschool community!